Finding the right plumber pt. 2So let us recap. Our last article we discussed how not all plumbing companies are the same. This still doesn’t do much to locate the correct company for you. A few weeks ago some friends and I scheduled a guided (multi day) fishing tour in Arkansas. Everything about the trip was great, except for the fishing. I’m not sure how the guide was chosen (since I didn’t book the guide) but I can tell you this. NONE of us were happy. Why should we? We did not catch one single fish. Surely plumbing and fishing are two totally different things and how could a bad experience of one even mimic another? It’s simple. We had expectations that were different than what was being offered. The first problem was we assumed that our experiences in previous trips we’ve had with the guides on different lakes would be no different on that lake. The second problem was we continued with the guide even after we had established that we were not going to get what we wanted. Personally I did find it amusing to watching members of the trip complain about what would be a fair price for what we got and etc. but I kept thinking “you knew it would be like this after the first day”. So how does one avoid this kind of train wreck? Ask questions! Ask a lot of questions! Questions like “what makes your service different than other services?”, “what is typical for this service and how does your company compare?”, or a personal favorite “what question should I ask that could make the largest difference to my satisfaction?” There are two ways to find out the kind of experience you want to receive. You can have a bad experience like most people and attempt to learn from it, or you can learn about problems most commonly found in that service and learn from other peoples mistakes. Many mistakes can be completely avoided. Most of the time, it’s a complete misunderstanding. When we set out to our little fishing adventure, we thought that we would actually cast shad bait. What we did was drive a boat around a lake for 5 hours trolling. Sometimes people expect plumbers to have a large variation of parts on our trucks. It’s not very realistic. The fact is 70% of that space is filled with tools and equipment to do a wide variety of different jobs. I think most people at most business’s want to do the most for their customers. Sometimes asking them to perform something that they are not set up for can guarantee failure. The best thing that the company can do is tell you “no” in this situation. People come in all shapes and sizes. Their wants and needs are 15,000 times more complicated. They vary greatly and in order to find what it is you really want, the service provider is going to need to know more about you. This can be done by you asking a great number of questions. Or you can try calling a company that is set up to ask a variety of questions. We can help. Find out more the next time you have a plumbing problem and call Dad’s Plumbing.

Finding the right plumber pt. 1Mom always knows what she wants. Yet I won’t dare ask my wife where she wants to eat. Getting to the core of that answer can be tough. Yes, we ate Chinese last night. Fried chicken was the day before. If you have ever been in a situation like this, it can be very frustrating. In about ten minutes you can establish all of the things she doesn’t want and still be wondering what she will accept. Finding the right plumber can be the same. The assumption that all restaurants are the same is as about as accurate as all plumbing companies being the same. Eventually, everyone will need a plumber and here are some great tips to help you determine that you have the right plumber. Does your plumber answer the phone or do you find yourself leaving messages. How good is the plumber for calling you back? We hear it many times a day about how hard it is to contact our competition. Your time is valuable! A great person once told me that you shouldn’t chase people to give them your money. We all get busy, it’s a fact of life but not calling people back or in a timely manner is just bad business. The amount of wages lost every year waiting on someone is mind boggling. Over $38 billion (yes with a B) was lost in 2011 just waiting on the cable guy. Sometimes the amount a repair cost you is greater than the check you write. Read the article here: http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/03/pf/cost_of_waiting/What type of service do you need is a very important question. Most people need general maintenance. This is the typical leaky faucet or slow drain. Plumbing companies don’t generally determine what an emergency is by the type of problem. If you are a business with water spraying all over or a food establishment with a problem that could get you shut down by the health department, the problem might actually be an emergency. Most residential problems are not considered an emergency. Ask your plumber if they perform emergency services. It may come at an additional cost but asking anyone to drop what they are doing will always equate to additional costs so be prepared to pay for them. Telling the plumbing company that your issue is and emergency is like telling a car salesman what your budget is. It could lead to a bad experience. Instead ask the plumber what kind of availability they have. Tell them what your problem is and see if they can give you a rough estimate. Naturally a plumber will actually need to see the problem to diagnose it first before a real quote can be performed. With that said, it’s safe to say we’re starting to establish the connection between “what to eat” and “finding the right plumber”. It is real easy to establish what one does not want when asked. Try asking for something that’s not on the menu. A waiter will tell you when something is not on a menu. Many questions should be asked by the plumber, otherwise your chances of being upset increases. Plumbers don’t have menus, so you are not likely to get what you wanted without asking first, or calling a company like Dad’s Plumbing.